* Describe your first student teaching context (school setting). What school are you at, what are some of its characteristics, and what classes are you teaching, and how are classes scheduled at your school?
Chariho High School is a school designed for 550 students. The total amount of sttudents is 1300 right now making for an interesting exerience. The teachers all share desks and drawers, and there is a closet where every teacher throws their presently useless material. This is the coat area, tv and vcr storage area, testbook asylum, pen pencil ruler tape marker and scantron hideout. The teachers work closely and are a close group themselves. It is a young science department and I am having fun working with them and am getting closer and more comfortable with them everyday. The administration is never seen and heard of besides announcements and meetings. The kids are crowded and cramped. The average class size of the 3 biology classes I will be teaching are about 20 kids, (there are 5 sections of C Bio, 3 honors, and 1 AP. There is also a lowest level Bio but I am not sure how many sections, and I will not be teaching that).The block scheduling Ive come to realize is nice for the teachers because you make 1 prep for 2 days, altering a few things to suit the honors students. I will be teaching 2 CP Bio classes one day, and an Honors Bio the next. Every week the schedule changes to allow a 3-2 rotration into a 2-3 rotation for the odd class the previous week.Periods are long, and allow room for instructing on many levels. From what Ive noticed in a faculty and deartmewnt meeting is trhat block scheduling is slowly being thought of to be relaced back into a regular schedule of 70 min periods, with each class meeting once a day.
* Explain one of your "stealth" objectives that you want to accomplish with your students and why.
Since the class sizes are large and the students in CP are a wild and sometimes unruly bunch, it is imortant to lay down some groundrules, establish authority and prepare for leniency associated with tyranny. My objective here is to present the students with the oportunity to test the waters but understand their limits. I have told them that I am a nice person and that I do not want them to make me a mean teacher, "respect me and I'll respect you". This seems to work as long as you are not a ushover. If they see that you are serious and prove your worth, they will respect you faster and easier. Sometimes a loo is all it takes to get a kid back to work instead of talking about useless things. Threatening a phone or an Ipod confiscation provides some dealmaking leverage with the especially disruptive kids. The dealmaking strategy has worked so far and the students are getting used to my demeanor and can read my mood and levels of leniency, but they always push it too far, and need a constant reminder. "If I dont see you comleting _ in 5 minutes, your _ is mine for the rest of the period. They seem to understand better when a deal is made. By setting this foundation, it will allow me to teach to a majority of attentive students and do it more efficiently without having to waste time babysitting more frequently.
* Describe your first student teaching context (school setting). What school are you at, what are some of its characteristics, and what classes are you teaching, and how are classes scheduled at your school?
Chariho High School is a school designed for 550 students. The total amount of sttudents is 1300 right now making for an interesting exerience. The teachers all share desks and drawers, and there is a closet where every teacher throws their presently useless material. This is the coat area, tv and vcr storage area, testbook asylum, pen pencil ruler tape marker and scantron hideout. The teachers work closely and are a close group themselves. It is a young science department and I am having fun working with them and am getting closer and more comfortable with them everyday. The administration is never seen and heard of besides announcements and meetings. The kids are crowded and cramped. The average class size of the 3 biology classes I will be teaching are about 20 kids, (there are 5 sections of C Bio, 3 honors, and 1 AP. There is also a lowest level Bio but I am not sure how many sections, and I will not be teaching that).The block scheduling Ive come to realize is nice for the teachers because you make 1 prep for 2 days, altering a few things to suit the honors students. I will be teaching 2 CP Bio classes one day, and an Honors Bio the next. Every week the schedule changes to allow a 3-2 rotration into a 2-3 rotation for the odd class the previous week.Periods are long, and allow room for instructing on many levels. From what Ive noticed in a faculty and deartmewnt meeting is trhat block scheduling is slowly being thought of to be relaced back into a regular schedule of 70 min periods, with each class meeting once a day.
* Explain one of your "stealth" objectives that you want to accomplish with your students and why.
Since the class sizes are large and the students in CP are a wild and sometimes unruly bunch, it is imortant to lay down some groundrules, establish authority and prepare for leniency associated with tyranny. My objective here is to present the students with the oportunity to test the waters but understand their limits. I have told them that I am a nice person and that I do not want them to make me a mean teacher, "respect me and I'll respect you". This seems to work as long as you are not a ushover. If they see that you are serious and prove your worth, they will respect you faster and easier. Sometimes a loo is all it takes to get a kid back to work instead of talking about useless things. Threatening a phone or an Ipod confiscation provides some dealmaking leverage with the especially disruptive kids. The dealmaking strategy has worked so far and the students are getting used to my demeanor and can read my mood and levels of leniency, but they always push it too far, and need a constant reminder. "If I dont see you comleting _ in 5 minutes, your _ is mine for the rest of the period. They seem to understand better when a deal is made. By setting this foundation, it will allow me to teach to a majority of attentive students and do it more efficiently without having to waste time babysitting more frequently.